Structure of Training

The CMHC Setting and Stipend

Six interns from clinical or counseling psychology programs are hired. The interns are paid a stipend of $25,000. Medical and dental benefits are available for a small fee deducted from payroll. The interns are entitled to 20 vacation days, 12 sick days, 12 holidays and 5 days conference time. Lunch is provided by the hospital. The average workweek is about 40-45 hours. Internships at Maimonides start on July 1st and end on June 30th.

Maimonides has a longstanding commitment to training and this is reflected in the amount of time and energy invested by all staff with respect to the internship program. The administration has made it a priority to be responsive to training and educational needs. Interns have been extended the entire range of support services the staff enjoys, including separate intern offices (two interns to an office), secretarial and copying services and access to all facilities. Secretaries with each unit provide typing and organizational services as well as taking messages and coordinating appointments.

Integration and communication between the Internship Program and the respective graduate schools is accomplished by a log of the intern’s activities and by direct contact with the Training Director when necessary. Reciprocal evaluations (supervisors of interns, interns of supervisors) at the end of each rotation are a source of valuable feedback. The Training Director acts as the liaison with all graduate programs.

The varieties of clinical experience are insured by rotation through different units of service. Interns spend 4 months each in the Adult Inpatient Unit, The Wellness Recovery Program (formerly know as the Continuing Day Treatment Services) and the Outpatient Service. The latter includes sub-rotations in the Child and Adolescent Outpatient Service (CAOS), the Adult Outpatient Service (AOS), Pediatric Psychology and the Psychiatric Emergency Department.

The intern is expected to become fully integrated into each unit to which he or she is assigned. The intern takes his or her part on a team and participates in treatment and clinical activities including the clinical and administrative functions assigned to that team. The intern is assigned two supervisors for long-term cases, additional individual unit supervision, supervision for psychodiagnostic testing, and a mentor. The mentor is available as an advisor to whom the intern can turn during the year if any problems develop. Finally, the interns receive an hour a week of group supervision with the chief psychologist in an on-going case seminar and 2-3 hours of group supervision on their units of rotation.